1. Field of the Invention
The present invention disclosed herein relates to an embedded software test, and more particularly but without limitation, to a device and a method for automatically testing interlayer interfaces of the embedded software.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical tool for testing embedded software is a debugger equipped with a part of integrated development environment. Other test tools are limited to analyzing the performance of embedded software.
A debugger generally provides functions such as break points, symbol monitoring, and stack monitoring. For example, Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET software development tool can set a break point at any point in a code listing, monitor and change global and local variables, and read and modify memory regions in code and data sections. However, these debugging functions are performed in an ad-hoc manner according to the personal experience and expertise of a software engineer or other tool users. A more objective and systematic approach is needed.
A typical test tool for analyzing embedded software performance generally provides functions such as memory usage analysis, and execution path analysis. For instance, IBM's “Rational Test RealTime” and Metrowerks' “CodeTEST” use software analysis functions within the framework of a system test after regarding the embedded software as a single functional unit. However, embedded software performance is closely related to the interaction between software and hardware components such as between an operating system (OS) and device drivers. For this reason, integration tests between such components are very important, and a method for supporting such integration testing is needed.